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Old World
The "Old World", sometimes referred to as the "Abandoned World", is an enormous landmass located in the Overworld. It, along with Voldrania and New Voldrania, is one of the three major regions of the Overworld, but it is by far the largest and most populated. It is nearly impossible to accurately gauge the size of the Old World, but it is commonly accepted that even the smallest of the Old Worlds great lakes is larger, or as large as, New Voldrania. The Old World is most known for two things: It is the ancestral home of all Humans, Dwarves, and Goblins, and there are constant wars waging across the entire region, making it one massive battleground. This constant state of warfare inspired numerous mass exodus' throughout history, and has made it impossible to accurately survey the region, or define its nations borders. History There are little more than legends and stories about the history of the Old World predating the formation of the Tavrosian Calendar. Historians believe that the first modern nations began to take form around 150 BT, or 1150 BE. Somewhere around 100 BT the Yonarki Empire, the most powerful in the world at that time, reached the peak of its power. Yonark's expansion was all but halted when the reached the end of the Brelyan Mountains, unable to push back the rapidly growing Sherig Empire. After a hundred years of this standoff a new leader, Shen'Rah Tavros, came to power in Sherig. His rise to power marked the formation of the Tavrosian Timeline, and the empires rebranding as the "Tavrosian Empire". His rise to power also marked the start of the unification wars, a decades-long period of conflict which saw the Tavrosian Empire conquer much of the world, including most of the once dominant Yonarki Empire. By 49 PT the Tavrosian Empire had conquered almost the entire world except for Narelow and the southern shores of Yonark, which were both intentionally spared. Over the next one hundred fifty years the Empire violently pushed its policy of "Cultural singularity", an effort to force the Tavrosian language and Serayanism onto the entire world. It was mostly successful, and its effects are still felt to this day. In 204 PT an organized series of riots began in Yonark, which eventually led to a full blown revolution across the entire empire. This revolutionary war lasted decades, and despite how many parts of the world turned against the Tavrosian Empire it managed to stand strong. This couldn't last forever, and by 264 PT the Empire had been beaten into submission, and was forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of all the different nations attempting to break free, effectively ending the empires rule. Over the next several centuries these new nations continued to grow and divide, becoming new nations that actively contributed in the Old World's growing state of constant warfare. At some point Goblins were largely enslaved by humanity to fight the growing number of wars that would come to define the history of the Old World. The constant warfare in the Old World inspired two major exoduses. The first was led by Jaylem Jarude, an Esgardian explorer who discovered New Voldrania and established the nation Krolesk there in 396 PT. The second exodus occurred in 1000 PT and was led by Adam Akarvon, but secretly funded by the Cult of Inversion. The exodus led to the colonization of Voldrania, and was the last major exodus in history. In 1061 PT some of the Voldranian settlers, calling themselves Herans, arrived back in the Old World claiming it had been destroyed. They were granted a plot of land on the southern Esgardian coast. Geography The Old World is massive, and yet surprisingly simple geographically when compared to the diversity of biomes in New Voldrania. The biome makeup is actually more similar to that of Voldrania's, in that it is primarily forested flatlands with isolated, well defined mountain ranges and an unknown number of surrounding islands. Geographical surveys have been severely limited by the regions constant warfare, and the apathy of wealthy or influential powers capable of funding such endeavors. There are a number of known, globally acknowledged geographical features that make up the Old World, listed below. Biomes *'Plains of Kerlse' **A massive flat peninsula that acts as the southern tip of the Old World. The region is littered with rivers and lakes that help irrigate the massive amount of farmland. *'Sherig Desert' **A large desert in the central area of the Old World, and home to Tavros. The center of the desert is in a bowl that has retained some water over the years, enough to be suitably habitable. Bodies of Water *'Cross River' **An oddly formed body of water forming a "T" in the center of the Plains of Kerlse. It is believed to be the result of fissures in the ground that intersected and then were flooded with ocean water. *'Great Lake of Yonark' **The largest landlocked body of water in the world located in the Yonarki peninsula. It is said both Voldrania and New Voldrania could fit within the lake without being able to see the other. *'The Great River' **A long river that spans from south of the Brelyan mountains to the plains of Kerlse. It is the longest river in the world. Islands *'Jessorian islands' **An archipelago south of the mainland that is known to be particularly cold and dry. The main Jessorian island is the second largest island in the world. *'Narin Islands' **A large island split down the middle by a large fissure. It is densely forested with small swamps littered around. *'Priarch Islands' **Islands north-east of the mainland that are notoriously flat and lightly forested. *'Wer' **The largest island in the world; it is covered in dense forests and jungles with a large mountain range in the center. Mountains *'Brelyan Mountains' **A collection of large mountains with the largest area of any mountain range in the world that connect the Yonarki peninsula to the mainland. *'Esgardian Mountains' **Large mountains jutting out of the center of Esgard that makes up a good portion of the peninsula's landmass. *'Lurvanian Mountains' **The worlds longest mountain range acting as the western border for most of the mainland of the Old World. *'The Shield Mountains' **The Shield Mountains are a long mountain range along the southern edge of the Yonarki Peninsula that act as a "shield" between the southern Jessorian islands and the mainland. Peninsulas *'Esgardian Peninsula' **The southern half of the mainland. It is marked on the north by the Great River, and notably contains the Esgardian Mountains and the Plains of Kerlse. *'Yonarki Peninsula' **"The East" of the mainland, it is an enormous peninsula only attached to the rest of the mainland by the Brelyan Mountains. Nations In reality there are countless "nations" in the Old World as there is no formal organization to define or enforce borders, and the region is far too large to account for every single settlement. It is generally accepted in modern times that there are sixteen "major" nations which hold significant power and influence. They are: Minor Nations Former Nations Wars As warfare has a tendency to leave behind little more than destruction it is utterly impossible to record every war which has ever recorded in the Old World, but historians and researchers believe that the Old World has been locked in non-stop warfare, even if the wars were small, for several centuries. There are a few major wars which shaped world history that are worth noting, though. The Unification Wars 3 - 49 PT The Unification Wars were a series of several wars of conquest waged by the immensely powerful Tavrosian Empire in its attempt to dominate the entire Old World. In relation to their end goals, the Unification Wars were immensely successfully, as by 49 PT almost the entire world had been integrated into the Tavrosian Empire. The notable exceptions were Narelow, which managed to use capitalistic means and careful diplomacy to maintain its independence, and a small portion of Yonark which answered to the Empire regardless. The Revolution 204 - 264 PT The Revolution refers to a sixty year period of warfare that saw the collapse of the Tavrosian Empire and the various nations return to sovereignty. Until 204 PT the Empire had managed to quell all rebellions, but riots and violent retaliation in Yonark and the islands east of it inspired the people of Jessoria to demand independence in 213 PT. More nations in the eastern front followed suit, and when word reached the western reaches of the empire they too revolted. In an act of desperation the Tavrosian Empire's leaders allowed the western empire to split off peacefully in an attempt to focus its efforts, but by 241 PT stalemates forced the Empire to acknowledge the Easts sovereignty. They turned their sights towards the West in an attempt to reconquer it, but the western nations, allied with southern revolters, allied with each other to topple the Empire. The Eastern nations again joined the war, and all three major fronts forced the Tavrosian Empire into submission in 264 PT, ending their rule over the world. Tavrosian Civil War 341 - 250 PT Following a coup against military overlord Nor Zherker in 271, tensions had arisen between two major factions of Tavros. In 341 his grandson, Gul Zherker, declared the eastern half of the nation independent and ignited a Civil War. The two fought for nearly a decade before Tavros gave in and acknowledged the new nation Zherker. The Great War 790 - 837 PT The Great War was single most violent war in the history of the Old World, and was the cause of the highest number of deaths in known history. It was a primarily two-sided war, with nations Tavros, Zherker, Yonark, Restine, Lurvania, and Jessoria facing off against Verkah, Esgard, Brelya, Kerlse, Drena, and Priarch. Much of the war was a stalemate, but not for lack of trying on the part of every nation involved, which was the reason for such a high death rate. The fighting became so intense that Narelow, a historically neutral nation, intervened to negotiate peace between the warring parties. Demographics Despite it's massive size, the Old World is not particularly diverse in its language or religion due to the policies of the ancient Tavrosian Empire that saw to the global standardization of their language and Serayanism. Ever since the Tavrosian Empire fell there has been an incredibly slow, gradual shift towards diversity in these areas, but the Empire's efficiency made adopting a new, or old, language impractical. Because of this Tavrosian remains the dominant language not only in the Old World, but in the Voldranians as well. Religious diversity has slowly increased over the years as well, notably quicker than language has. While Serayanism is still the dominant religion several others have gained prominence in the last few centuries, such as the Norvanian Doctrine and Tarskovian Orthodox. In recent decades there has also been a rise in non-belief in the Old World, as more and more people abandon religion in the face of the non-stop death and destruction the region is known for. Despite this, the region is fairly diverse ethnically and culturally. One thing the Tavrosian Empire was unable to "Singularize" was a peoples unique culture, celebrations, and traditions. Many adopted the new religion, but did not abandon what went along with their old one. As such the Old World has become something of a "blob" of culture, as war influenced migration has spread countless cultures all around the region. This is also true for ethnicity, and in modern times no one nation can claim a concrete ethnic majority, due in part to the impossibility of census taking. It is is still possible, however, to trace ones ancestry back to an original "home" nation. See Also *Old World Nations *Tavrosian Timeline *Voldranian Timeline *Voldrania *New Voldrania *Overworld Category:Old World Category:Regions